Mysterious Question
by Issue No 2708786
Summary: Luffy asks Ace a important question.


Hurrying through the crowded street a curly brown haired woman was trying to keep her balance as two young children attached themselves to her arms, she kept tugging them free from the screaming children as continuously pulled her down to their level, to demand at her more things.

The young mother moaned loudly as she rubbed her swollen stomach, thinking about her next baby that was about to come into the world. Letting out another moan which turns into a sigh, she leaned down and grabbed hold of the smallest child and brought him up to her hip, then she grabbed the older by the hand and hurried once more on her way.

While all this was going on, fourteen year old Monkey D Luffy was watching the woman and the two little children screaming over and over: "Mama! Mama! MAMA!"

Luffy blinked slowly. "Where do children come from?" Luffy asks himself suddenly, as he watched the woman with the children go out of sight.

The young teen blinked again and began walking along the street, all the while that question echoes through his mind. He had seen babies before, so he knew that was how people started out. Not that he could remember being a baby, his earliest memory was him hugging on to someone inside a large thick cloth or something and then of Grandpa; but Luffy guessed that he must have been a baby at one point in his life, since he had been a child at one point too.

"So where do _babies_ come from?" Luffy asks himself as his chain of thought went to this now; to be a child you must first be a baby. He had been thinking about this matter over the course of the week, and chose to watch the mothers and fathers with their children, wondering what makes them mother and daughter, father and son or even brother and brother. Luffy knew how Ace become his brother, but what about everyone else? Do they all have to drink Sake to be family?

Luffy blinks and grins has he spots Ace coming out of a shop ahead of him, carrying a lot of bags with one hand and in the other he was holding a bottle of drink. Ace would be leaving their island soon and was stocking up for his travels. Luffy stared at his 'brother' for a moment, before out into a run and coming up along side him.

Ace had not seen his little brother coming up beside him and began walking towards the gates without a word. Luffy silently walks with Ace, watching the older teen with interest and waiting for the best time to ask this question.

'When Ace stops walking I'll ask...Oh now!'' Luffy thinks to himself as he continued shadowing his brother unusually quite. Just as he thought this Ace came to a stop when the gates comes into view, and brining that bottle up to his lips he takes a big swig.

"Where do babies come from?" Luffy asks loudly taking a step closer to Ace, who now had a mouthful of drink.

Badly startled by the suddenness of the question the drink caught at the back of Ace's throat, he did the only thing he could do. Release the drink from his mouth, and straying it about ten foot in front of himself and soaking three men who happen to be there with the sticky drink and his spit.

The drink drips from his chin as he stares ahead of himself, blinking in shock. Slowly he turns to see his little brother staring at him with eyes full of trust.

The three men also blink, one reached up and started wiping the drink away. The other two did the same and then started matching slowly and dangerously looking towards the freckled face teen.

Ace was to busy staring at Luffy to notice the three chest puff up men.

"What?" Ace asks almost stupidly as he looked upon his brother's face, Luffy leans forward.

"Where do babies come from?" Luffy asked again, this time he said it in a low voice his hand cupped his mouth as he leaned close to Ace; this time something shattered, the older that dropped the bottle.

Ace lets out a moan at his brother's words, just as he instinctively move out of the way of a oncoming fist. Ace frowned at the fist and he glances to see what the fist was connected to. An angry wet face man was growling darkly at Ace.

"Hold these for a second." Ace told Luffy dropping the overflowing bags at his feet. Luffy reaches down and picked up only half the bags; by the time he stood and straighten himself Ace was standing in front of a pile of men. For some strange reason there was more than three men now; they all moaning out in pain and discomfort as they lay on top of each other in awkward positions.

Luffy blinked at the new number of men... "Ace, where did the-" Luffy started, but Ace was suddenly in front of him.

"It a mystery!" Ace declared loudly as he grabs the bags left on the ground with one hand, and took hold of Luffy's hand with the other. "When something can't be explained, its called a 'mystery'!"

"_Oh~_!" Luffy cries out as he grins back at the pile of men, "So _that_ is a mystery? So what about babies?" He finished when he remembered his first question.

"What I just said, it is a mysterious thing!" Ace said coming to a stop through the ache-way of the Great Gates that lean to the Grey Terminal.

"Mystery things can be more then one thing?" Luffy asks tilting his head in confusion, his mouth was frown deeply.

"Yes. Yes." Ace said nodding his head happily, pleased that he could dodge the question with this one word. "Mystery is a _word_ used for when things can't be explained! Now you know! Babies are one of them..." Ace frowned as thoughts of Luffy going through life without knowing about that side of life, "...but some mysteries can be uncovered over time!" Ace went on to say quickly as he glanced at his simply minded brother, "So when you are a lot lot older ask again. Understand Luffy?"

"Nope. But that's because its a mysterious reason right?" Luffy replies grinning proudly up at his brother, who seemed to want to say more.

"Haha right..." Ace said at last and grips on tighter on his poor little brother's hand and together they walked out of the gates.

While they walked along Luffy seemed to be deep in thought, so much so that he was starting to have a mild fever. Luffy stops walking with a unhappy frown; Ace continued to walk along pulling with him Luffy's rubbery arm. It was only when him felt a soft tugging feeling that Ace glances back and saw that he only had an hand with him. He could see Luffy's cheeks and forehead red, a sure sign that he was thinking or remembering something; Ace just walks back with the arm as it flops about, waiting for his brother to catch him out on his lie of not knowing and the mystery reasons.

"But Ace, two weeks ago you said you were making babies." Luffy said as he remembers, he watched his brother's eyes widen in fright.

"_What_...? When was this?!" Ace asked with a loud voice, so loud and fearful that it gained the attention of those around them.

"During the your seventeenth party," Luffy says as he studied his brother carefully, and he leans closer enjoying seeing his brother sweat for once, he kept his face completely blank but inside he was laughing at the sight, "Don't you remember, I was looking for you. And found you in the barn, rolling around in the hey with that odd girl." Ace's eyes were nothing but white now, as he listened to Luffy's words, memories flashed in his mind's eyes. "First you said that you were wrestling. Then I asked why was you wrestling nak-"

Ace holds up his hand to silence his brother. He remembered. He had been drinking heavily through the party and this girl suddenly came up out of no where and tugged him into the barn.

'I was completely out of it' Ace thought with a sigh as he gazes towards Luffy's waiting face. 'Luffy must have been thinking for a while now,' He reasoned, 'That was why he had not shut up with the first reason I gave...the longer Luffy goes thinking about something, the more he wants to know.' Ace took in a deep breathe.

"Luffy." Ace says firmly and looking at him in the eye, "I am going away soon, but the next time we meet, I will tell you everything. Everything about what's what. Until then, don't let girls pull you into any weird place. And if they take off their clothes, ask what their are doing."

"Okay..." Luffy said a little more confused then when he first asked the question, the chose not to say more. "But does this mean you're going to have a baby soon. With that girl you were wrestling with?"

"I don't know." Ace said with a small smile, "Even if you wrestle with them, its a mystery whether or not a baby comes out at the end. I hear it take abou-"

"A BABY COMES OUT THE END OF A NAKED WRESTLING MATCH?!" Luffy suddenly screams out loud and clear, causing everybody in a ten mile area to look their way, "I DIDN'T SEE ONE!" He screamed once more, as he tried to remember if there had been any babies after Ace and the strange girl came out of the barn.

Ace just stood red face in shock at the words coming from Luffy's mouth, he then pulled his brother along as Luffy went on talking about babies popping out of matches and how there was none really there. Ace gritted his teeth and lowed his head, wanting to get away from the many stares.


End file.
